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Words & Music
My favorite albums since I can remember hearing an album in its entirety. My rules:
- no greatest hits;
- no wishful thinking (no, I wasn't ready for The Stooges or The Velvet Underground when I was 9);
- as little bias toward what I wish were my favorite for a given year as possible;
- no leaving out an album because I've already listed the artist.
I've left out some very good stuff (Television's Marquee Moon and The Clash, both from 1977, being the prime examples), but I can play most of these from track one to the end in my head. I'm pretty sure I've left out some very bad stuff as well.
Year Album Artist 1965 Rubber Soul The Beatles 1966 Blonde on Blonde Bob Dylan 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles 1968 The Beatles (White Album) The Beatles 1969 Tommy The Who 1970 After the Goldrush Neil Young 1971 Sticky Fingers Rolling Stones 1972 Exile on Main Street Rolling Stones 1973 For Your Pleasure Roxy Music 1974 Rock 'n' Roll Animal Lou Reed 1975 Born to Run Bruce Springsteen 1976 Howlin’ Wind Graham Parker & the Rumour 1977 Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols Sex Pistols 1978 This Year’s Model Elvis Costello and the Attractions 1979 London Calling The Clash 1980 A Different Kind of Tension The Buzzcocks 1981 Wild Gift X 1982 Shoot Out the Lights Richard and Linda Thompson 1983 Murmur REM 1984 Let it Be The Replacements 1985 Rain Dogs Tom Waits 1986 King of America Elvis Costello 1987 Bring the Family John Hiatt 1988 Surfer Rosa The Pixies 1989 Oh Mercy Bob Dylan 1990 Songs for Drella Lou Reed and John Cale 1991 Girlfriend Matthew Sweet 1992 Hollywood Town Hall The Jayhawks 1993 World Gone Wrong Bob Dylan 1994 Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Pavement 1995 Grand Prix Teenage Fanclub 1996 Odelay Beck 1997 OK Computer Radiohead 1998 A Thousand Leaves Sonic Youth 1999 The Soft Bulletin Flaming Lips 2000 Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea PJ Harvey 2001 White Blood Cells The White Stripes 2002 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco 2003 Youth and Young Manhood Kings of Leon 2004 Funeral The Arcade Fire 2005 Illinoise Sufjan Stevens 2006 The Greatest Cat Power 2007 In Rainbows Radiohead -
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